Chapter Seven

Analyzing Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior

Chapter Objectives and Questions:

- How do cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors
influence consumer buying behavior?
-How does the consumer make a purchasing decision?

Introduction
The aim of marketing is to meet and satisfy target
customers’ needs and wants. The field of consumer behavior
studies how individuals, groups, and organizations select,
buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences
to satisfy their needs and desires. Understanding consumer
behavior is never simple, because customers may say one
thing but do another. They may not be in touch with their
deeper motivations, and they may respond to influences and
change their minds at the last minute.
Still, all marketers can profit from understanding how and
why consumers buy. For example, Whirlpool’s staff
anthropologists go into people’s homes, observe how they use
appliances, and talk with household members. Whirlpool has
found that in busy families, women are not the only ones
doing the laundry. Knowing this, the company’s engineers
developed color-coded washer and dryer controls to make it
easier for kids and men to pitch in.
This chapter explores individual consumers’ buying dynamics;
the next chapter explores the buying dynamics of business buyers.

Influencing Buyer Behavior

The starting point for understanding consumer buying behavior
is the stimulus response model shown in Figure 3-1. As this
model shows, both marketing and environmental stimuli enter the
buyer’s consciousness. In turn, the buyer’s characteristics and
decision process lead to certain purchase decisions. The
marketer’s task is to understand what happens in the buyer’s
consciousness between the arrival of outside stimuli and the
buyer’s purchase decisions.
As this model indicates, a consumer’s buying behavior is
influenced by cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors.
1. Cultural Factors
Culture, subculture, and social class are particularly important
influences on consumer buying behavior.
➤ Culture. Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a
person’s wants and behavior. A child growing up in the United
States is exposed to these broad cultural values: achievement and
success, activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, material
comfort, individualism, freedom, external comfort,
humanitarianism, and youthfulness.
➤ Subculture. Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that
provide more specific identification and socialization for their
members. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial
groups, and geographic regions. Many subcultures make up
important market segments, leading marketers to tailor products
and marketing programs to their needs. Latinos, for example, the
fastest-growing U.S. subculture, are targeted by Dallas-based
Carnival Food Stores, among other marketers. Dallas is one of the
top 10 cities in terms of Latino population, and when the chain
uses Spanish language promotions, customers are more
responsive. Marketers are targeting another subculture, African
Americans, because of its hefty $500 billion in purchasing power.
Hallmark, for instance, created its Mahogany line of 800 greeting
cards especially for African Americans. Age forms subcultures,
as well; the 75 million Americans in the 50-plus market are being
targeted by marketers such as Pfizer, which airs ads showing how
its medications help seniors live life to the fullest.
Figure Model of Consumer Buyer Behavior

➤ Social class. Social classes are relatively homogeneous and

enduring divisions in a society. They are hierarchically ordered
and their members share similar values, interests, and behavior
(see Table ). Social classes reflect income as well as occupation,
education, and other indicators. Those within each social class
tend to behave more alike than do persons from different social
classes. Also, within the culture, persons are perceived as
occupying inferior or superior positions according to social class.
Social class is indicated by a cluster of variables rather than by
any single variable. Still, individuals can move from one social
class to another—up or down—during their lifetime. Because
social classes often show distinct product and brand preferences,
some marketers focus their efforts on one social class.
2. Social Factors
In addition to cultural factors, a consumer’s behavior is influenced
by such social factors as reference groups, family, and social roles
and statuses.
a. Reference Groups
Consists of all of the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or
indirect influence on a person’s attitudes or behavior. Groups that
have a direct influence on a person are called membership groups.
Some primary membership groups are family, friends, neighbors,
and co-workers, with whom individuals interact fairly
continuously and informally. Secondary groups, such as
professional and trade-union groups, tend to be more formal and
require less continuous interaction. Reference groups expose
people to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence attitudes and
self-concept, and create pressures for conformity that may affect
product and brand choices.
b. Family
The family is the most important consumer-buying organization
in society, and it has been researched extensively. The family of
orientation consists of one’s parents and siblings. From parents, a
person acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, and
economics as well as a sense of personal ambition, self-worth, and
love. A more direct influence on the everyday buying behavior of
adults is the family of procreation—namely, one’s spouse and
children. Marketers are interested in the roles and relative
influence of the husband, wife, and children in the purchase of a
large variety of products and services. These roles vary widely in
different cultures and social classes. See page 186.
Table Selected Characteristics of Major U.S. Social Classes

‫ في الكتاب‬186 ‫أنظر جدول صفحة‬

c. Roles and Statuses
A person participates in many groups, such as family, clubs, or
organizations. The person’s position in each group can be defined
in terms of role and status. A role consists of the activities that a
person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status. A
Supreme Court justice has more status than a sales manager, and a
sales manager has more status than an administrative assistant. In
general, people choose products that communicate their role and
status in society. Thus, company presidents often drive Mercedes,
wear expensive suits, and drink Chivas Regal scotch. Savvy
marketers are aware of the status symbol potential of products and
brands.
3. Personal Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior
Cultural and social factors are just two of the four major factors
that influence consumer buying behavior. The third factor is
personal characteristics, including the buyer’s age, stage in the
life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle,
personality, and self-concept.
a. Age and Stage in the Life Cycle
People buy different goods and services over a lifetime. They eat
baby food in the early years, most foods in the growing and
mature years, and special diets in the later years. Taste in clothes,
furniture, and recreation is also age-related, which is why smart
marketers are attentive to the influence of age.
b. Occupation and Economic Circumstances
Occupation also influences a person’s consumption pattern. A
blue-collar worker will buy work clothes and lunchboxes, while a
company president will buy expensive suits and a country club
membership. For this reason, marketers should identify the
occupational groups that are more interested in their products and
services, and consider specializing their products for certain
occupations. Software manufacturers, for example, have
developed special programs for lawyers, physicians, and other
occupational groups.
c. Lifestyle
People from the same subculture, social class, and occupation
may actually lead quite different lifestyles. A lifestyle is the
person’s pattern of living in the world as expressed in activities,
interests, and opinions. Lifestyle portrays the “whole person”
interacting with his or her environment.
Successful marketers search for relationships between their
products and lifestyle groups. For example, a computer
manufacturer might find that most computer buyers are
achievement-oriented. The marketer may then aim its brand more
clearly at the achiever lifestyle.
Psychographics is the science of measuring and categorizing
consumer lifestyles. One of the most popular classifications based
on psychographic measurements is SRI International’s Values and
Lifestyles (VALS) framework. The VALS 2 system classifies all
U.S. adults into eight groups based on psychological attributes
drawn from survey responses to demographic, attitudinal, and
behavioral questions, including questions about Internet usage. 11
The major tendencies of these groups are:
➤ Actualizes: Successful, sophisticated, active, “take-charge”
people whose purchases often reflect cultivated tastes for
relatively upscale, niche-oriented products.
➤ Fulfilled: Mature, satisfied, comfortable, and reflective people
who favor durability, functionality, and value in products.
➤ Achievers: Successful, career- and work-oriented consumers
who favor established, prestige products that demonstrate success.
➤ Experiencers: Young, vital, enthusiastic, impulsive, and
rebellious people who spend much of their income on clothing,
fast food, music, movies, and video.
➤ Believers: Conservative, conventional, and traditional people
who favor familiar products and established brands.
➤ Strivers: Uncertain, insecure, approval-seeking, resource
constrained consumers who favor stylish products that emulate
the purchases of wealthier people.
➤ Makers: Practical, self-sufficient, traditional, and family-
oriented people who favor products with a practical or functional
purpose, such as tools and fishing equipment.
➤ Strugglers: Elderly, resigned, passive, concerned, and
resource-constrained consumers who are cautious and loyal to
favorite brands.
d. Personality and Self-Concept
Each person has a distinct personality that influences buying
behavior. Personality refers to the distinguishing psychological
characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and enduring
responses to environment. Personality is usually described in
terms of such traits as self-confidence, dominance, autonomy,
deference, sociability, defensiveness, and adaptability.14
Personality can be useful in analyzing consumer behavior,
provided that personality types can be classified accurately and
that strong correlations exist between certain personality types
and product or brand choices. For example, a computer company
might discover that many prospects show high self-confidence,
dominance, and autonomy, suggesting that computer ads should
appeal to these traits.
Self-concept (or self-image) is related to personality.
Marketers often try to develop brand images that match the target
market’s self-image. Yet it is possible that a person’s actual self-
concept (how she views herself) differs from her ideal self-
concept (how she would like to view herself) and from her others-
self-concept (how she thinks others see her). Which self will she
try to satisfy in making a purchase? Because it is difficult to
answer this question, self-concept theory has had a mixed record
of success in predicting consumer responses to brand images.

4. Psychological Factors
Psychological factors are the fourth major influence on consumer
buying behavior (in addition to cultural, social, and personal
factors). In general, a person’s buying choices are influenced by
the psychological factors of motivation, perception, learning,
beliefs, and attitudes.
a. Motivation
A person has many needs at any given time. Some needs are
biogenic; they arise from physiological states of tension such as
hunger, thirst, discomfort. Other needs are psychogenic; they arise
from psychological states of tension such as the need for
recognition, esteem, or belonging. A need becomes a motive
when it is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive is a
need that is sufficiently pressing to drive the person to act.
Psychologists have developed theories of human motivation.
Three of the best known—the theories of Sigmund Freud,
Abraham Maslow, and Frederick Herzberg— carry quite different
implications for consumer analysis and marketing strategy.
➤ Maslow’s theory. Abraham Maslow sought to explain why
people are driven by particular needs at particular times.17 His
theory is that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, from the
most to the least pressing. In order of importance, these five
categories are physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-
actualization needs. A consumer will try to satisfy the most
important need first; when that need is satisfied, the person will
try to satisfy the next-most-pressing need. Maslow’s theory helps
marketers understand how various products fit into the plans,
goals, and lives of consumers.
b. Perception
A motivated person is ready to act, yet how that person actually
acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation.
Perception is the process by which an individual selects,
organizes, and interprets information inputs to create a
meaningful picture of the world. Perception depends not only on
physical stimuli, but also on the stimuli’s relation to the
surrounding field and on conditions within the individual.
➤ Selective attention. People are exposed to many daily stimuli
such as ads; most of these stimuli are screened out—a process
called selective attention. The end result is that marketers have to
work hard to attract consumers’ attention.
➤ Selective distortion. Even noticed stimuli do not always come
across the way that marketers intend. Selective distortion is the
tendency to twist information into personal meanings and
interpret information in a way that fits our preconceptions.
Unfortunately, marketers can do little about selective distortion.
➤ Selective retention. People forget much that they learn but tend
to retain information that supports their attitudes and beliefs.
Because of selective retention, we are likely to remember good
points mentioned about a product we like and forget good points
mentioned about competing products.
c. Learning
When people act, they learn. Learning involves changes in an
individual’s behavior that arise from experience. Most human
behavior is learned. Theorists believe that learning is produced
through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and
reinforcement. A drive is a strong internal stimulus that impels
action. Cues are minor stimuli that determine when, where, and
how a person responds.
d. Beliefs and Attitudes
Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes
that, in turn, influence buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive
thought that a person holds about something. Beliefs may be
based on knowledge, opinion, or faith, and they may or may not
carry an emotional charge.
THE Buying Decision Process
Marketers have to go beyond the various influences on buyers and
develop an in depth understanding of how consumers actually
make their buying decisions. Specifically, marketers must identify
who makes the buying decision, the types of buying decisions,
and the stages in the buying process.
Buying Roles
Marketers can identify the buyer for many products easily. In the
United States, men normally choose their shaving equipment, and
women choose their pantyhose. Still, marketers must be careful,
because buying roles can change. After the giant British chemical
firm ICI discovered that women made 60 percent of the decisions
on the brand of household paint, it began advertising its DeLux
brand to women.
Buying Behavior
Marketers also need to be aware that consumer decision making
varies with the type of buying decision. The decisions to buy
toothpaste, a tennis racket, a personal computer, and a new car are
all very different. In general, complex and expensive purchases
are likely to involve more buyer deliberation and more
participants. As shown in Table Assael distinguished four types of
consumer buying behavior, based on the degree of buyer
involvement and the degree of differences among brands:
a. Complex buying behavior applies to high-involvement
products such as personal computers. Buyers may not know what
attributes to consider in these products, so they do research.
Knowing this, marketers can help educate buyers about product

High Involvement Low Involvement

Significant Differences
Complex buying — Variety-seeking
between Brands behavior
applies when product buying
behavi—applies when
is
expensive,bough or
buyer switches brands
tinfrequently,risky,and for
the sake of variety
self-
expressive;buyer rather
than
first
develops beliefs about dissatisfaction;buyer
has some beliefs about
the
product,then develops the
product,chooses a brand
attitudes about with little
it,and makes a
finally evaluation,and
evaluates the
thoughtful
choice product
during
Few Differences .Dissonance- consumption.
Habitual buying —
between Brands reducing
behavi—applies when thebehavior
applies when the
or
product is product
is low-cost and
expensive,
bought frequently
purchased;buyers do not
infrequently,and
risky;buyer shops aroundpass through
and buys fairly normal
sequence of
quickly,then
later belief,attitude,
and behavior but
experiences
dissonance but stays instead
make decisions based
alert
to on
information supporting
brand
the purchase familiarity.
decision.
 attributes, differentiate and describe the brand’s features, and motivate
store personnel and others to influence the final brand choice.
b. Dissonance-reducing buyer behavior applies to high-involvement
products such as carpeting. Carpeting is expensive and self-
expressive, yet the buyer may consider most brands in a given price
range to be the same. After buying, the consumer might experience
dissonance after noticing certain disquieting features or hearing
favorable things about other brands. Marketers should therefore
supply beliefs and evaluations that help consumers feel good about
their brand choices.
c.Habitual buying behavior applies to low-involvement products such
as salt. Consumers keep buying the same brand out of habit, not due
to strong brand loyalty, because they are passive recipients of
information conveyed by advertising. Ad repetition creates brand
familiarity rather than brand conviction. Marketers of such products
can use price and sales promotions to entice new customers to try their
products.
D.Variety-seeking buying behavior applies to low-involvement
products such as cookies. In this category, consumers switch brands
often because they want more variety. The market leader will
therefore try to encourage habitual buying behavior by dominating the
shelf space, keeping shelves stocked, and running frequent reminder
ads. Challenger firms will encourage variety seeking by offering
lower prices, coupons, free samples, and ads that offer reasons for
trying something new.
Stages of the Buying Decision Process
In addition to examining buying roles and behavior, smart companies
research the buying decision process involved in their product category.
They ask consumers when they first became acquainted with the product
category and brands, what their brand beliefs are, how involved they are
with the product, how they make their brand choices, and how satisfied
they are after purchase.
Figure shows a five-stage model of the typical buying process.
Starting with problem recognition, the consumer passes through the
stages of information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase
decision, and postpurchase behavior.
Stage 1: Problem Recognition
The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need.
This need can be triggered by internal stimuli (such as feeling hunger or
thirst) or external stimuli (such as seeing an ad) that then becomes a
 drive. By gathering information from a number of consumers, marketers
can identify the most frequent stimuli that spark interest in a product
category. They can then develop marketing strategies that trigger
consumer interest and lead to the second stage in the buying process.
Stage 2: Information Search
An aroused consumer who recognizes a problem will be inclined to
search for more information. We can distinguish between two levels of
arousal. At the milder search state of heightened attention, a person
simply becomes more receptive to information about a product. At the
active information search level, a person surfs the Internet, talks with
friends, and visits stores to learn more about the product. Consumer
information sources include personal sources (family, friends, neighbors,
acquaintances), commercial sources (advertising, Web sites, salespersons,
dealers, packaging, displays), public sources (mass media, consumer-
rating organizations), and experiential sources (handling, examining,
using the product). The consumer usually receives the most information
from commercial (marketer-dominated) sources, although the most
influential information comes from personal sources.

Figure Five-Stage Model of the Consumer Buying Process

Figure Successive Sets Involved in Consumer Decision Making

Figure 3-3 makes it clear that a company must strategize to get its
brand into the prospect’s awareness set, consideration set, and choice set.
The company must also identify the other brands in the consumer’s
choice set so that it can plan competitive appeals. In addition, the
company should identify the consumer’s information sources and
evaluate their relative importance so it can prepare a range of effective
communications for the target market.
Stage 3: Evaluation of Alternatives
Once the consumer has conducted an information search, how does he or
she process competitive brand information and make a final judgment?
There are several evaluation processes; the most current models view the
process as being cognitively oriented, meaning that consumers form
judgments largely on a conscious and rational basis.
Stage 4: Purchase Decision
In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preferences among the brands
in the choice set and may also form an intention to buy the most preferred
brand. However, two factors can intervene between the purchase intention
and the purchase decision.
The first factor is the attitudes of others. The extent to which another
person’s attitude reduces one’s preferred alternative depends on two
things: (1) the intensity of the other person’s negative attitude toward the
consumer’s preferred alternative, and (2) the consumer’s motivation to
comply with the other person’s wishes. The influence of others becomes
even more complex when several people close to the buyer hold
contradictory opinions and the buyer would like to please them all.
Stage 5: Postpurchase Behavior
After purchasing the product, the consumer moves into the final stage of
the consumer buying process, in which he or she will experience some
level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This is why the marketer’s job does
not end when the product is bought. In particular, marketers must monitor
postpurchase satisfaction, postpurchase actions, and postpurchase product
uses.